Barbara J.R. Jones

Justice Jones was confirmed as Presiding Justice of Division 5 of the First District, Court of Appeal in December, 1998, the first woman to serve as a presiding justice in the First District. On September 2, 1996 she was confirmed as Associate Justice of Division 5. She was appointed Judge of the San Francisco Superior Court by Governor Pete Wilson in January, 1992, and reelected in November, 1992. Judge Jones served in the Superior Court civil and criminal divisions, and as Judge of the Appellate Department of the Superior Court.

Justice Jones received her BA degree from Duke University, 1965, and JD degree from University of San Francisco, School of Law, 1974. She was a member of the University of San Francisco Law Review and McAuliffe Society, the academic honor society.

In 1995 Justice Jones was appointed by the California Supreme Court to its Advisory Committee on the Code of Judicial Ethics, pursuant to the voter-approved Proposition 190, to develop a new Code of Ethics for California judges. She has served the court ever since as a member of its Advisory Committee on the Code of Judicial Ethics.

From 1995 until her appointment to the Court of Appeal in 1996, Justice Jones was a member of the Judicial Council's Advisory Committee of Civil and Small Claims, and she served on the Judicial Council's Task Force on Complex Civil Litigation. Since 1997 Justice Jones has been a member of the Appellate Mediation Task Force, appointed by Chief Justice Ronald M. George to develop and implement the First Appellate District's program for mandatory mediation of civil appeals.

Throughout her legal career, Justice Jones has served as teacher and panelist in a host of continuing legal and judicial education programs. She was on the faculty and a Planning Committee member for California Center for Judicial Education and Research, Civil Law and Procedure Institutes, in 1992 and 1995; she chaired the Planning Committee in 1996.

Justice Jones was honored by the National Association of Women Lawyers in 2003 with its President's Award in recognition of her work in judicial ethics, and by the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association in 2005 as Appellate Justice of the Year. In 2009 Queen's Bench Bar Association of the San Francisco Bay Area awarded Justice Jones its Lifetime Achievement Award. In 1983 Justice Jones was President of Queen's Bench; she is a lifetime member of Queen's Bench and California Women Lawyers. She was President of the University of San Francisco, School of Law alumni association in 1984, and a founding member of the USF, School of Law Women Lawyers Council.

For over sixteen years prior to her judicial appointment, Justice Jones practiced civil litigation, emphasizing general business and personal injury matters. In her pre-law days she was an elementary school teacher, an editor of social studies textbooks; and executive secretary to a U.S. Congressman. She spends many extra-judicial hours road cycling.